LANGKAWI - Malaysia Airports is now another step closer to its ultimate goal of turning Malaysia Airports into a global leader in creating airport city – KLIA Aeropolis. Today, the airport operator signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Invest Selangor Berhad (Invest Selangor), a Selangor investment promotion agency, and a partnership agreement with TCR Solution Sdn Bhd (TCR Group), a Belgian-based and globally-renowned ground support equipment (GSE) service provider during Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2017 held at the Ministry of Transport Pavilion, Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) earlier this afternoon.

The MoU between Malaysia Airports and Invest Selangor demonstrates both parties’ commitment to further promote and market KLIA Aeropolis and Subang Aerospace Park as an ASEAN regional aerospace hub. These two of three aerospace sites in Selangor identified by Invest Selangor are both located on land which is within the purview of Malaysia Airports’. These locations will be marketed to other aerospace players in the world through joint participation in meetings, conferences, workshops, business to business events and exchange of information on marketing and promotion activities. Aerospace is one of the four key economic areas identified by Invest Selangor to stimulate Selangor’s economy. Through this collaboration, both parties will be able to expand and support the industry’s future growth by serving its growing customer base better with the development of a MRO and aircraft conversion centre.

Meanwhile, the strategic partnership between Malaysia Airports and TCR provides the latter a platform to offer its GSE facilities at KLIA which will serve as TCR International’s Asia Pacific (APAC) headquarters and at the same time act as the foundation for its APAC expansion. Its APAC expansion projects include Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan and all of these operations will be structured under the regional headquarters in Malaysia. This partnership will potentially contribute to improved service levels and cost savings for ground handling players and also airlines. TCR has a presence in over 100 airports globally including Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, London Heathrow Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport and of course the HQ in Belgium, Brussels airport. TCR operates in over 13 countries and has vast experience in the provision of high quality GSE services to over 300 global airline brands and over 80 of the world’s largest ground handlers TCR directly or indirectly provides the ground handling equipment for over 5,000 daily flights.

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports signed the agreement on behalf of Malaysia Airports while Invest Selangor was represented by Dato’ Hasan Azhari Hj Idris, Chief Executive Officer of Invest Selangor and TCR Solution was represented by Jason Watson, Managing Director of TCR Asia Pacific and Scott Munro, Business Development Manager for Asia Pacific. The exchange of documents was witnessed by Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi, Deputy Minister of Transport Malaysia and was also graced by the presence of Datuk Seri Hj. Saripuddin Hj. Kasim, Secretary General of Ministry of Transport Malaysia.

Badlisham said, “Malaysia Airports is pleased to have signed the agreements with Invest Selangor and TCR Group because both companies definitely have the right capacity and experience to materialise the goals of KLIA Aeropolis and make it a success through their expertise, business objectives and service offerings. We are confident that the collaboration with these companies will further position Malaysia Airports as a regional key economic enabler.”

The development of KLIA Aeropolis is one of four strategic priorities identified in the Malaysia Airports’ five-year business plan, Runway to Success 2020 (RtS2020) which was launched in 2016, and it is the very embodiment of the Malaysia Airports’ vision in becoming a global leader in creating airport cities.